• As appropriate, the institution incorporates into its online learning programs methods of meeting the stated institutional goals for the student experience at the institution
• Senior administrators and staff can articulate how online learning is consonant with the institution’s mission and goals

(Interregional Guidelines for the Evaluation of Distance Education, Council of Regional Accrediting Commissions [C-RAC] [2011])

• Legitimacy in leadership and organizational structure
• Powerful data analytics that drive decision-making and promote accomplishments
• Policies that address instructional capacity, concurrent enrollment, and distance education tuition
• Cooperation and respect among the colleges and administrative units
• Increases in faculty participation and the number of degrees and courses offered online
• Growth in enrollment, credit hours, and degrees completed—as well as enhancement of the stature of the institution as a whole
• Recognition, awards, and publications

• Development and ownership of plans for online learning extend beyond the administrators directly responsible for it and the programs directly using it
• Plans for online learning are linked effectively to budget and technology planning to ensure adequate support for current and future offerings
• The institution and its online learning programs have a track record of conducting needs analysis and of supporting programs

(Interregional Guidelines for the Evaluation of Distance Education, Council of Regional Accrediting Commissions [C-RAC] [2011])

• Identifying and articulating institutional brand and reputation
• Understanding the market and proper use of market research
• Determining program differentiation and attributes
• Establishing roles and importance of campus leadership
• Helping cultivate and build consensus among key academic stakeholders
• Engaging in effective faculty (re)sourcing
• Assessing campus infrastructure and allies needed for new ventures
• Mobilizing marketing, recruitment, and enrollment teams
• Ascertaining and building a case for resource needs
• Recognizing the need for improvisation in the pursuit of solutions and the willingness to take risks—and respond to both success and failure

• Establish scalable practices for program and enrollment growth
• Develop workload and compensation policies
• Clarify intellectual property rights and faculty responsibilities for online authorship
• Provide various and diverse opportunities for faculty development
• Inspire faculty creativity and continuous enhancement of the online experience
• Maintain ongoing technical support for faculty and students
• Cultivate quality instructional design and development
• Ensure ongoing assessment of faculty support services

• Online learning courses and programs are evaluated on a periodic basis.

(Interregional Guidelines for the Evaluation of Distance Education, Council of Regional Accrediting Commissions [C-RAC] [2011])

• A successful faculty support system is measured by student satisfaction and retention rates; faculty job satisfaction and retention rates; and course evaluation data.
• Qualitative and quantitative data should be mandated matrices employed to measure success and benchmark quality practices among faculty.
• Access should be granted to external assessment instruments that faculty can utilize to assess online course design and teaching ability.

• Promote and maintain a focus on the academic goal of online learning. Technology tools should be the solution, not the driver. This necessitates a comprehensive awareness of appropriate learning theory applicable to the curriculum.
• Ensure that faculty leaders are included in the governance structure of the campus-wide online learning initiative. This becomes critical to overcome issues of quality assurance and faculty adaptation to the new strategy.
• Reach out to advocates within the institution’s academic departments and centers of teaching and learning.

Faculty Support

• Students will be able to connect with others as effectively as in a traditional face-to-face environment, with enhanced tools for instantaneous interaction. Collectively, we must always look forward, continually driven to eliminate barriers that impede interaction and the exchange of information and ideas

Student Support

• Recognizing that online students demand a learning experience at least comparable to that on-campus, leaders must be ongoing advocates for students earning their degrees remotely from their institutions.

• The curricular goals and course objectives show that the institution or program has knowledge of the best uses of online learning in different disciplines and settings
• Curricula delivered through online learning are benchmarked against on-ground courses and programs, if provided by the institution, or those provided by traditional institutions
• The curriculum is coherent in its content and sequencing of courses and is effectively defined in easily available documents including course syllabi and program descriptions
• Scheduling of online learning courses and programs provides students with a dependable pathway to ensure timely completion of degrees
• The institution or program has established and enforces a policy on online learning course enrollments to ensure faculty capacity to work appropriately with students
• Expectations for any required face-to-face, on-ground work (e.g., internships, specialized laboratory work) are stated clearly
• Course design and delivery supports student-student and faculty-student interaction
• Curriculum design and the course management system enable active faculty contribution to the learning environment
• Course and program structures provide schedule and support known to be effective in helping online learning students persist and succeed

(Interregional Guidelines for the Evaluation of Distance Education, Council of Regional Accrediting Commissions [C-RAC] [2011])

Advocacy and leadership within the University

• Cooperation and respect among the colleges and administrative units
• Increases in faculty participation and the number of degrees and courses offered online
• Growth in enrollment, credit hours, and degrees completed—as well as enhancement of the stature of the institution as a whole
• Recognition, awards, and publications

Faculty Support
A successful system of online education would be one where faculty and students praise the infrastructure and have identified few problems with its operation, capabilities, reliability, ease-of-use, convenience, robustness, navigation, or availability including:

• Faculty feedback system reports
• Faculty training participation logs
• Course and program development logs

Student Support

• Successful student support is measured by rates of graduation and student and alumni satisfaction. The institution should track the returning student retention rate and compare this number to industry norms.
• Student satisfaction data can be obtained through end-of-course evaluations and then student and alumni surveys. Course evaluation data alone are insufficient to track student satisfaction metrics. Multiple methods should be deployed to obtain these data, including recording feedback obtained from student support staff, end-of-semester outreach efforts by deans and department chairs, annual student satisfaction surveys, as well as direct emails.

• Serving students who study at a distance means that student and faculty support systems, technology services, policies, resource strategies, and assessment and evaluation tools need to be developed and implemented to provide the fundamental infrastructure that generates student success.

Student Support

• Recognizing that online students demand a learning experience at least comparable to that on-campus, leaders must be ongoing advocates for students earning their degrees remotely from their institutions.

• Assessment of student learning follows processes used in onsite courses or programs and/or reflects good practice in assessment methods
• Student course evaluations are routinely taken and an analysis of them contributes to strategies for course improvements
• The institution regularly evaluates the effectiveness of the academic and support services provided to students in online courses and uses the results for improvement
• The institution documents its successes in implementing changes informed by its programs of assessment and evaluation
• The institution provides examples of student work and student interactions among themselves and with faculty
• The institution sets appropriate goals for the retention/persistence of students using online learning, assesses its achievement of these goals, and uses the results for improvement

(Council of Regional Accrediting Commissions Interregional Guidelines for the Evaluation of Distance Education, [C-RAC] [2011])

Demonstrate/provide evidence of:

Advocacy and Leadership within the University

• Legitimacy in leadership and organizational structure
• Powerful data analytics that drive decision-making and promote accomplishments
• Policies that address instructional capacity, concurrent enrollment, and distance education tuition
• Cooperation and respect among the colleges and administrative units
• Increases in faculty participation and the number of degrees and courses offered online
• Growth in enrollment, credit hours, and degrees completed—as well as enhancement of the stature of the institution as a whole
• Recognition, awards, and publications

Student Support

• Successful student support is measured by rates of graduation and student and alumni satisfaction. The institution should track the returning student retention rate and compare this number to industry norms.
• Student satisfaction data can be obtained through end-of-course evaluations and then student and alumni surveys. Course evaluation data alone are insufficient to track student satisfaction metrics. Multiple methods should be deployed to obtain these data, including recording feedback obtained from student support staff, end-of-semester outreach efforts by deans and department chairs, annual student satisfaction surveys, as well as direct emails.
• Data should be, at a minimum, generated annually and shared with faculty and staff.
• Standard customer-centric satisfaction and benchmarking measures should also be considered. For example, consider asking standard questions (e.g., “Would you recommend this program to a friend?”) that can indicate student satisfaction when tracked over time.
• Data gained from benchmarking measures can help measure satisfaction and provide insight about student engagement, while yielding useful critique for course development and redesign, program level issues, and faculty success.
• Alumni are an excellent source of satisfaction data. Consider establishing a feedback survey for new alumni, following up at regular intervals in their professional careers. Information gathered from this group can enhance the understanding of program outcomes, job success, alumni achievement, fundraising opportunities, and potential referrals or corporate connections for new students.
• Whatever methods are used to obtain feedback, students and alumni want to know their voices are heard. Establish a system for responding conscientiously to students who offer salient feedback—whether positive or negative.

• Recognizing that online education is not a solitary instructional process, but one that requires extensive support and resources, leaders must envelop their faculty with the tools they need to create education equal to, if not exceeding, that of the traditional classroom.

Student Support

• Recognizing that online students demand a learning experience at least comparable to that on-campus, leaders must be ongoing advocates for students earning their degrees remotely from their institutions.

Digital Technology

• Recognizing that technology creates both opportunities and anxieties, leaders must provide an environment that is current, dependable, and rich in the creative use of tools to enhance learning, interaction, and program integrity.

• Online learning faculties are carefully selected, appropriately trained, frequently evaluated, and are marked by an acceptable level of turnover
• The institution's training program for online learning faculty is periodic, incorporates tested good practices in online learning pedagogy, and ensures competency with the range of software products used by the institution
• Faculty are proficient and effectively supported in using the course management system
• The office or persons responsible for online learning training programs are clearly identified and have the competencies to accomplish the tasks, including knowledge of the specialized resources and technical support available to support course development and delivery
• Students express satisfaction with the quality of the instruction provided by online learning faculty members

(Interregional Guidelines for the Evaluation of Distance Education, Council of Regional Accrediting Commissions [C-RAC] [2011])

Faculty Support

• A successful faculty support system is measured by student satisfaction and retention rates; faculty job satisfaction and retention rates; and course evaluation data.
• Qualitative and quantitative data should be mandated matrices employed to measure success and benchmark quality practices among faculty.
• Access should be granted to external assessment instruments that faculty can utilize to assess online course design and teaching ability.
• Ultimately, faculty success consists of far less-tangible factors—the ease with which they can create and incorporate innovative components into their teaching and the incremental improvements that
  result from their ability to experiment with new ways of teaching.

Student Support

• Successful student support is measured by rates of graduation and student and alumni satisfaction. The institution should track the returning student retention rate and compare this number to industry norms.
• Student satisfaction data can be obtained through end-of-course evaluations and then student and alumni surveys. Course evaluation data alone are insufficient to track student satisfaction metrics. Multiple methods should be deployed to obtain these data, including recording feedback obtained from student support staff, end-of-semester outreach efforts by deans and department chairs, annual student satisfaction surveys, as well as direct emails.
• Data should be, at a minimum, generated annually and shared with faculty and staff.
• Standard customer-centric satisfaction and benchmarking measures should also be considered. For example, consider asking standard questions (e.g., “Would you recommend this program to a friend?”) that can indicate student satisfaction when tracked over time.
• Data gained from benchmarking measures can help measure satisfaction and provide insight about student engagement, while yielding useful critique for course development and redesign, program level issues, and faculty success.
• Alumni are an excellent source of satisfaction data. Consider establishing a feedback survey for new alumni, following up at regular intervals in their professional careers. Information gathered from this group can enhance the understanding of program outcomes, job success, alumni achievement, fundraising opportunities, and potential referrals or corporate connections for new students.
• Whatever methods are used to obtain feedback, students and alumni want to know their voices are heard. Establish a system for responding conscientiously to students who offer salient feedback—whether positive or negative.

Digital Technology
A successful system of online education would be one where faculty and students praise the infrastructure and have identified few problems with its operation, capabilities, reliability, ease-of-use, convenience, robustness, navigation, or availability. The system would approach 100 percent availability and reliability, with access to all tools and services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Delays in system responsiveness would be minimal, and wait times for any human interactions—such as access to advising or technical support—would be negligible. In fact, the user should be barely aware of the existence or complexity of this infrastructure.

All aspects of the system should be monitored as a guide to what performance or utilization levels are being achieved, including:

• Technical support system trouble logs and problem resolution timeframes
• LMS system statistics
• Toolset utilization levels
• Faculty feedback system reports
• Faculty training participation logs

• Ensure the quality of the student experience for fully online students
• Foster community engagement and cohort diversity
• Provide targeted student support services
• Create a student learning experience through intentional instructional design
• Develop student success/retention initiatives
• Implement ongoing technical and pedagogical support for faculty and students
• Commit to ongoing assessment of faculty and student support services

Digital Technology
Ideally, a system of online education will be so clearly designed and laid out that it will be intuitive to use and straightforward to navigate. However, these systems are complex and not all participants will be comfortable or familiar with the concept of online education. Even expert teachers may be unfamiliar with online systems and approaches. In order for optimal training to be available for faculty and students, a significant team of trainers who themselves are constantly engaged in their own ongoing education must be prominent in the enterprise. The introduction of new systems, tools, and services must be provided routinely for:

• New faculty and first-time faculty participants
• Faculty course developers
• Faculty teams and departments
• New students
• Continuing students

• The institution's admissions program for online learning provides good web-based information to students about the nature of the online learning environment, and assists them in determining if they possess the skills important to success in online learning.
• The institution provides an online learning orientation program.
• The institution provides support services to students in formats appropriate to the delivery of the online learning program.
• Students in online learning programs have adequate access to student services, including financial aid, course registration, and career and placement counseling.
• Students in online learning programs have ready access to 24/7 tech support.
• Students using online learning have adequate access to learning resources, including library, information resources, laboratories, and equipment and tracking systems.
• Student complaint processes are clearly defined and can be used electronically.
• Students are provided with reasonable and cost-effective ways to participate in the institution's system of student authentication.

(Interregional Guidelines for the Evaluation of Distance Education, Council of Regional Accrediting Commissions, [C-RAC] [2011])

Student Support

• Successful student support is measured by rates of graduation and student and alumni satisfaction. The institution should track the returning student retention rate and compare this number to industry norms.
• Student satisfaction data can be obtained through end-of-course evaluations and then student and alumni surveys. Course evaluation data alone are insufficient to track student satisfaction metrics. Multiple methods should be deployed to obtain these data, including recording feedback obtained from student support staff, end-of-semester outreach efforts by deans and department chairs, annual student satisfaction surveys, as well as direct emails.
• Data should be, at a minimum, generated annually and shared with faculty and staff.
• Standard customer-centric satisfaction and benchmarking measures should also be considered. For example, consider asking standard questions (e.g., “Would you recommend this program to a friend?”) that can indicate student satisfaction when tracked over time.
• Data gained from benchmarking measures can help measure satisfaction and provide insight about student engagement, while yielding useful critique for course development and redesign, program level issues, and faculty success.
• Alumni are an excellent source of satisfaction data. Consider establishing a feedback survey for new alumni, following up at regular intervals in their professional careers. Information gathered from this group can enhance the understanding of program outcomes, job success, alumni achievement, fundraising opportunities, and potential referrals or corporate connections for new students.
• Whatever methods are used to obtain feedback, students and alumni want to know their voices are heard. Establish a system for responding conscientiously to students who offer salient feedback—whether positive or negative.

Digital Technology
A successful system of online education would be one where faculty and students praise the infrastructure and have identified few problems with its operation, capabilities, reliability, ease-of-use, convenience, robustness, navigation, or availability. The system would approach 100 percent availability and reliability, with access to all tools and services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Delays in system responsiveness would be minimal, and wait times for any human interactions—such as access to advising or technical support—would be negligible. In fact, the user should be barely aware of the existence or complexity of this infrastructure.

All aspects of the system should be monitored as a guide to what performance or utilization levels are being achieved, including:

• Technical support system trouble logs and problem resolution timeframes
• LMS system statistics
• Toolset utilization levels
• Faculty feedback system reports
• Faculty training participation logs

• Develop long-range goals and a strategy driven by analysis of existing academic strengths, infrastructure, programs, resources, and areas that need enhancement and development.
• Demonstrate that shared instructional capacity and financial resources enhance the opportunities to launch full degrees online through cooperative efforts, easing the burden on any single department, college, or campus.
• Report findings and advocate for change, resources, and innovations based on results. Establish the habit of openness, self-criticism, and continual improvement, so that analytical tools fuel ongoing quality enhancement.

Advocacy and Leadership beyond the University

• Represent institution publicly and authoritatively
• Cultivate strategic corporate, governmental, foundation, association, community, and academic alliances
• Manage outsourced services
• Engage alumni and trustee groups
• Ensure regulatory compliance
• Meet professional and regional accreditation standards

Advocacy and Leadership within the University

• Legitimacy in leadership and organizational structure
• Powerful data analytics that drive decision-making and promote accomplishments
• Policies that address instructional capacity, concurrent enrollment, and distance education tuition
• Cooperation and respect among the colleges and administrative units
• Increases in faculty participation and the number of degrees and courses offered online
• Growth in enrollment, credit hours, and degrees completed—as well as enhancement of the stature of the institution as a whole
• Recognition, awards, and publications

Advocacy and Leadership beyond the University

Success in this area can be measured by:

• Public awareness and appreciation of the institution and its online programs
• Number of graduates hired by community and corporate partners
• Legislation that is harmonious with the objective of the online learning program
• Association with professional organizations that advocate for online learning
• Up-to-date compliance with state, local, and national regulations and accreditation standards
• Participation in open, frank, and informative conversations regarding the opportunities and challenges associated with online learning
• Investigation of strategic partnerships with peer and peer-plus academic institutions, both in the United States and abroad, that allow for partnerships, course and cost sharing, and expanded access.

It is critical to create a singular, transparent lens through which external constituencies view the quality, substance, and application of services provided by the online-learning arm of the university, and to ensure that the full array of stakeholders of these services and products are informed and confi dent in their dealings with the institution.

• Represent institution publicly and authoritatively
• Cultivate strategic corporate, governmental, foundation, association, community, and academic alliances
• Manage outsourced services
• Engage alumni and trustee groups
• Ensure regulatory compliance
• Meet professional and regional accreditation standards

Professionalism

A culture of professionalism will enhance and strengthen the stability and success of the online enterprise. In this still-young facet of higher education—where there remains skepticism and concern about the role and reputation of online education—the challenge for online leadership is to establish the credibility, idealism, and array of services and standards that ensure that faculty, students, and staff will embrace online education at their institution as a source of pride and achievement.Ultimately, the measure of success for online leadership is more than simply providing conventional, basic services. A forward-thinking enterprise inspires faculty to design and deliver outstanding online instruction—enabling students to achieve learning outcomes and career success even beyond what an on-campus experience might provide, and propelling the whole institution to excellence and innovation in online education.

• Establish a professional voice that creates ongoing credibility with all constituents including students, faculty, and staff, as well as external funders, regulators, political leaders, media, and the public
• Develop practices that ensure trust among faculty, staff, and other constituents
• Set high expectations of competency
• Treat all faculty, staff, and external constituents with respect
• Act with integrity and transparency in all interactions with faculty, staff, students, and external constituents
• Formulate and sustain the ethical aspects of online programs—particularly academic honesty
• Exhibit empathy and consideration with faculty, staff, and external constituents
• Ensure effective business, human resources, and financial leadership practices
• Participate at a regional and national level to learn from others, compare practices, air issues and concerns, and establish high standards of excellence
• Support research, presentations, publications, and award submissions
• Demonstrate continuous receptivity to improvement in operations, innovation, and new approaches, concepts, and technologies
• Exemplify the ongoing quest to achieve even higher ideals by putting educational quality and student success above all else

Advocacy and Leadership beyond the University

Success in this area can be measured by:

• Public awareness and appreciation of the institution and its online programs
• Peer recognition
• Number of graduates hired by community and corporate partners
• Legislation that is harmonious with the objective of the online learning program
• Consistent and emergent grant funding that allows for operational and educational innovations
• Association with professional organizations that advocate for online learning
• Up-to-date compliance with state, local, and national regulations and accrediting standards
• Participation in open, frank, and informative conversations regarding the opportunities and challenges associated with online learning
• Investigation of strategic partnerships with peer and peer-plus academic institutions, both in the United States and abroad, that allow for partnerships, course and cost sharing, and expanded access.

Professionalism

• Success is measured by continuous growth, acceptance, and trust of online education by academic leaders, faculty, staff, students, and employers.
• Professionalism can be measured through the receptivity of solicited and unsolicited feedback from stakeholders (internal and external), covering:
  • Conflict and issues resolution
  • Communication styles and strategies
  • Responsible leadership
  • Development of shared values and purposes
  • Low employee turnover
  • Image the unit portrays to all online learning constituents, both internal and external